25th Sunday Ordinary Time – God or mammon

Posted on September 17, 2022September 17, 2022 by Deacon Joe

Am. 8:4-7; Ps. 113:1-2, 4-8; 1 Tim. 2:1-8; Lk. 16:1-13

God or mammon, the choice is ours. So is the choice for honesty or dishonesty, truth or lies, generosity or covetousness but both cannot coexist as a reality of the heart. Mammon is the “devil of covetousness”. The readings draw for us this contrast that we may discern our true heart’s desire. The desire for God is a heart of generosity. Spinoza the philosopher says “if love is the goal, generosity is the road to it.” God is love thus if we desire love we desire God and if we desire God then generosity is the road to him. Mammon is the desire of the heart that says “me first” and “too bad so sad for you.”

The one who holds onto the devil of covetousness is their own God and all others are objects in the way or a means from where to gain the riches the heart desires to possess. It is the psychology of “winners and losers and all is fair in love and war”. It makes for great drama in movies and theatre but for the reality of life it is all a tragedy. To those who “fix our scales for cheating” the Lord says “Never will I forget a thing they have done!”

Never means never! So, what about when the Lords says, “I will never again remember their sins” in Jeremiah 31:34 and again in Hebrews 8:12? In God there is no contradiction. The difference is between those who choose God, confess and are forgiven and those who chose mammon where the Lord says, “When he is judged, let the verdict be ‘Guilty’, and when he prays, let the prayer turn to sin.” (Ps. 109) We like to say “Don’t mess with Texas”. Today we hear “Don’t mess with God!” God or mammon is an eternal choice.

The devil of covetousness is the father of lies and if we believe there are only winners and losers then the choice is to win at the cost of others unless of course you are a follower of the way of the cross, God’s way. As Mathew 16:26 reminds us “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” For mammon, if you want to be a winner you accept the premise that others must lose by default. The “low hanging fruit” of losers to pick on are the poor, those who have the least authority, and those who are most “needy” of the scraps from the table of indulgence. God or mammon, the choice here is clear. When God is forgotten the devil wins our souls. The prudent choice for eternity is God.

Jesus poses a challenge to us this day to be spiritually prudent. The account of the rich man and his steward demonstrates “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of the light.” The children of the light are the baptized children in the faith given the light to act prudently through the Holy Spirit. Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues to judge rightly the will of God in our lives. The children of the world as in the steward figure out how to manipulate the situation for their benefit “dishonest in small matters is also dishonest in great ones” yet acting prudently for their own good. How much more should the children of the light act prudently for their spiritual good?

Can we say Jesus acted prudently when “Though our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, he became poor”? To die to self for the other is love that we may all have the choice of God or mammon, heaven or hell, the Lord’s generosity or our own covetousness. Are we worth that sacrifice? The Lord said “yes” and is here to redeem us even if it is one sheep that is one soul at a time. Why? Because the Lord cannot deny himself who he is as our Father the creator, the Son the redeemer and the Holy Spirit the sanctifier, the one God in three persons.

Prudence is living with the end in mind. What we do matters for the moment and with a lasting consequence. It is the house that is not built in one day but every day adds to the structure of what is to come. Scripture reminds of having a house on a firm foundation of faith, hope and love. The world reminds us that it is also possible to have a house of cards built by illusion, by meta technology and to easily become lost in it. When the trials of life come there is no solid foundation and it all comes crashing down. Once a moment of time is gone, we cannot go back and recover it and for some things there is no “reset button”.

Living with the end in mind does not diminish nor deny the idea of living one day at a time, being in the present, or trusting in the Lord. We don’t all of a sudden throw caution to the wind with the attitude of “se la vie”, that’s lifeor a “que sera sera” whatever will be will be. We trust in God’s divine providence yet prudently act as if he has now placed his trust in us because he has. God is trusting in us as a Father to do the right thing, to be his witness of love, to go into the world not to be immersed in worldly things but to be a voice of truth, Godly truth.

There is a misconception that our actions have little consequence in this world compared to the great cosmos. We make it all about our own little place, it is all about us so whatever we choose the attitude is “what difference does it make?” It makes a great difference for God. It made a great difference for our Blessed Mother to give her fiat to the Lord as a vessel of eternal grace that brought us Christ into the world. It makes a great difference to the child who is not aborted but given life to make a contribution to this world that can last for generations. It makes a great difference when a person accepts to carry their cross in redemptive suffering as an offering to God rather than end of life choices through suicide or euthanasia.

Prudence is acting in right judgment for the whole picture of life, our God given purpose, our calling for this day that leads us to the greater glory of God. Our choice matters greatly to God. It unites us to him or separates us from him. It is the choice of God or mammon, heaven or hell. Choose wisely!

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Homily

“All things are possible”– 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on October 9, 2021October 8, 2021 by Deacon Joe

Wis. 7:7-11; Ps. 90:12-17; Heb. 4:12-13; Mk. 10:17-30

“All things are possible for God” including meeting the precondition to be a follower of God. The man who ran up to Jesus was given a precondition for he was “lacking in one thing”, giving up all his possessions before coming to follow Jesus. He was attached to his possessions in a way that was holding him back from his desire for the “eternal life”. Nothing we have as our possession we take with us into the eternal life. Naked we came into the world and naked we will return. What is that one thing in the way keeping us from the eternal life?

We can be attached to people, places and things that hold us back from growing in our faith. We can be attached to our sins that we refuse to separate from. We can turn something natural into something abusive from food to entertainment from sex to work it can all become an attachment of sin. People, places, and things are not the end all but the means to come into relationship with our God. But “all things are possible with God” to transform our attachments from sin to service, from dependency to freedom.

Something good can become something that stands in the way of our call to love God above all things. God first! Who are our attachments that hold us back from coming to Jesus? We can be attached to people who we love so much that we lose sight of God. Recall when Jesus was told his mother and brothers had arrived to see him. He asked “who is my mother and who are my brothers?” Jesus’ love for his mother was not any less than a son to her but he understood his calling was greater than his love for his earthly family. He came to build up a heavenly family and that did not mean loving anyone less but being willing to love more by sacrifice for something greater. We are called to make a similar sacrifice when we decide we are ready to “cling” to a “suitable partner”.

Last week the theme of the readings was about leaving behind mother and father and clinging to your “suitable partner”. We don’t love our parents less we only grow in love as we come to appreciate even more what they did for us, their sacrifice, and the love so we could be ready to love even more in marriage and with our children. When we get married our focus is on our mission as a couple to help each other get to heaven.

Priests leave behind mother and father and cling to the mother Church with a sacrificial love for their calling to serve the poor, the neighbor, and the stranger. If a husband or wife decides they have no intention of coming to Church do we still come and fulfill our commitment to God first? Won’t our prayers for our family be more of a sacrifice by still coming to Church and serve as a reminder to your spouse that God comes first? St. Augustine’s mother St. Monica prayed and sacrificed for her son when he was living his life of sin and not only were her prayers answered but she became a saint through her sacrifice. Come and pray for their conversion for “all things are possible for God.”

We can be attached to places like our workplace. Work is a calling from God and scripture reminds that he who does not work should not eat. Work is especially fruitful when we make our work a place where we invite God into that he may multiply the blessings of our work. Work can also become an attachment for sin when we don’t work to live but live to work as workaholics. Workaholism is closely linked to the love of money. Otherwise, there is plenty of work to do at home, to volunteer at church if someone has the energy and time to give more and the payback can be even greater than any money will buy.

We can even be attached to things that represent our “silver and gold” like our cell phone. Can we try putting that cell phone down for just a day, or even just a meal to sit and face each other in conversation? Let us ask ourselves “how difficult is that?” Something that has made our life so convenient in communications can even turn to evil. Evil comes in the form of social media and cancel culture, stalking and bullying. Youth are more driven to suicide by social media than by going out and living life. The phone is the silver and gold of youth and can turn into the weapon of Satan if parents are not aware of what their children are viewing. The evil one can turn all things into possibilities for sin and destruction.

All things are possible for God”. Greater than silver and gold are the “countless riches” at the hands of wisdom that bring “all good things together”. “Nothing in comparison with her” not silver, gold or priceless gems compare to the countless riches coming from the spirit of wisdom in the kingdom of God. Search for the things from above and greater than any earthly riches will be given. The things from above work together to separate the darkness from the light and bring us the gift of wisdom.

It takes wisdom to see the hand of God in our presence and recognize in life not just what is but what is becoming of us for we are the unfinished work of God in search of his perfection. God’s work in us is to grow in holiness, to be made perfect in love, and to come and follow him in doing his will. Wisdom is the outcome of living the infused virtues coming from God through the gifts of the Holy Spirit put into practice in our human encounters with life in God’s presence.

“Then come, follow me” sets the precondition to being a follower of Jesus. Something needs to occur before we become followers of Jesus. What is our “then come” that is keeping us from entering into the eternal life? Is it our possessions or even something deeper like our pride? Do we need to come to the waters of baptism and accept Jesus as our savior? We need to come to Jesus in humility and accept his love and mercy. Jesus is waiting? As he said to a young Maria Faustyna Kowalksa in a vision, “How long will you keep me waiting?” It was the moment of conversion for St. Faustyna. For most of us, it is a moment by moment conversion until our last breath. Jesus does not push us away from him we keep pushing ourselves away from him still trying to live “our life”. Our life is a breath away from ending the moment the breath of Jesus stops breathing on us.

The disciples claim to have met the preconditions as Peter claims, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus’ response is a promise to receive “a hundred times more…now in this present age…and eternal life in the age to come.” Jesus is preparing his disciples for the coming kingdom of his church on earth that comes with “houses” of worship, “brothers and sisters” in Christ, “mothers” from the Church and children from the followers and with “lands” from the four corners of the world as the gospel is proclaimed. It also has its sacrifice “with persecutions” as the early Church is persecuted but it’s reward “in the age to come”. After the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples received “a hundred times more…in the present age”, they received the power to heal, to cast out demons, to proclaim the gospel with authority and even to forgive sins in the name of Jesus for “all things are possible for God.”

We can count our blessings a hundred times but we also need to recognize our gifts coming from God in all the little and big ways he answers our prayers. God provides us the wisdom to raise our family, the justice to protect the innocent, the resources to feed the hungry, the fortitude to defend our faith, the temperance to balance our life, the prudence to judge rightly and the breath of life to live as true witnesses of the gospel message.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” When there is doubt between the word of God and our thoughts and feelings there is no doubt. The gift of prudence helps us accept the word of God in humility, to recognize what is lacking in us as poor in spirit comes in the fullness of God’s truth and we trust in him. “All things are possible for God” when we invite him into our lives. We come to him in the poverty of our humanity, with all our limitations, all our faults, all our needs and hopes. We ask for forgiveness in what we have done and failed to do and the most merciful God in his riches hears our prayers and answers.

Let us remember to pray the Rosary. It is a meditation on the life of Christ with the Blessed Mother Mary echoing our prayer to her son. With each mystery place yourself there and imagine witnessing the mystery and experiencing the joy, sorrow, glory, and the light. Soon we can come to enter into the mystery itself and receive the graces from God who makes all things possible.

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Homily

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on September 21, 2019September 20, 2019 by Deacon Joe

Am. 8:4-7; Ps. 111-2, 4-8; 1 Tim. 2:1-8; Lk. 16:1-13

Jesus entered the world into the poverty of a stable, grew up in the poverty of a carpenter’s son, walked and slept among the poor in his ministry, and died on the poverty of the cross, “he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” All the riches of the world are his yet the riches he offers are not material abundance but spiritual abundance in the graces of faith to believe, hope to trust, love to care, prudence to judge rightly, justice to be fair, fortitude to demonstrate courage, temperance for balance, knowledge to understand, and wisdom to know God.

Jesus chose solidarity among the poor to witness his love of humanity for we all enter the world poor and return to the dust of the world yet “He raises up the lowly from the dust”. In this we see the promise of being raised up from the dust to heaven with the riches we have received and not squandered. The Lord calls the poor in spirit blessed knowing our fallen nature brings us the poverty of sin yet his mercy endures forever.

We will all be asked to “prepare a full account of your stewardship” the graces we squandered and those we multiplied. Are we prudent as children of the light to recognize these gifts and invest them into the greater good of humanity? It is tempting to “fix our scales for cheating” as the steward trusted with the master’s wealth acting “prudently” in our own interest. The parable however was of a steward who was not prudent with the master’s property until he got caught for squandering his property. Lesson then is a “person trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones”.

If we serve the god of mammon, the material god then we are anxious to preserve our riches and least eager to share them, the scales are always tipped our way. Jesus is ready to share his riches with us, generous to those who “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you”. There is no limit to the degree of riches we can receive in Jesus. Unlike the megachurches who preach material wealth, look to Jesus and his witness on earth to see the fallacy of those false teachings.

Material goods are a blessing not as a reward for good behavior or a trophy of recognition as perceived in the Old Testament but a blessing for the purpose of doing a greater good in service to God. One of the criticisms of the Catholic church is the amount of wealth invested into some of its cathedrals and basilicas while people are walking on the streets hungry and poor. Those beautiful churches also feed the spiritual needs of the poor in comforting their lowliness as a visible sign of God’s presence closer to them than their suffering. The church, that is the people of God inside the building are called to respond to the physical needs of the poor.

In union both spiritual and physical needs are cared for as one body in Christ. With all the power of God and all the miracles Jesus manifested he never bestowed material wealth to the poor, to his parents, or his disciples. Instead he asked them to trust him and sent them out in poverty to minister to the world.

Today we are reminded one of our ministries to the world is for the “supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone, for kings and all in authority.” As a society we choose sides and attack the authority in control when they don’t represent our views. They need the most prayer because their authority impacts the “quiet and tranquil life’ we seek. As we become more interdependent with the world in a global economy, a nuclear age, and the geopolitical tensions around the world no one is immune from the next global threat. There are wars of weapons, trade wars, virus attacks, environmental wars, and cultural wars. Our leadership needs our prayers and “This is good and pleasing to God our savior who wills everyone to be saved.”

The Lord pours out his riches into our souls to bring us the peace we seek in our homes, comfort in our suffering, forgiveness of sins, blessing for our work, joy in our hearts, the confidence to persevere in our challenges, help at the hour of death with the assurance that our names are written in the book of life for all eternity.

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Homily

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on October 14, 2018October 12, 2018 by Deacon Joe

1 Wis. 7: 7-11; Ps 90: 12-17; Heb. 4: 12-13; Mk 10: 17-30

Wisdom is naked truth! “Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away” wrote Antonine De Saint-Exupery. We have all grown up with “dichos” those sayings with one liners of wisdom that capture the essence of a teaching. They are easy to remember but serve to penetrate our minds and hearts “sharper than a two-edged sword” cutting “down to the bone” as we say and to our souls.

When Solomon prayed in the first reading prudence was given to him. Prudence as in having the ability to discern with right judgment was his reward. He could have prayed for victory over his enemies, his health and his wealth. He recognized the one priority as “wisdom greater than any priceless gem, silver or gold.” When Solomon set his priorities according to God’s order “all good things together came…and countless riches at her hand…” He was given the treasure of wisdom but also the earthly treasures of his kingdom with honor.

The Word of God cuts judicially “both ways”. One side cuts through to the prime rewards of obedience to God’s commands. We see this in the Gospel when the young man “with many possessions” testified to his obedience to the commandments Jesus presented to him saying, “Teacher, all these things I have observed from my youth.” His life has been blessed with many material possessions. It also cuts from the other edge where sin and reckless behavior gives rise to adversity and sorrow. Having entered my 60’s already I realize the sins of my youth have already started to be revealed in my aging problems. I have quite a bunch of friends. I wake up with Buddy Aches, spend the day with Arthritis, eat with Tummy Hurts, and go to bed with Ben Gay. These are the good guys to help me face my enemies. We pick our lifetime friends by the choices and lifestyle we live and they are very loyal in sickness and in health.

Hebrews however gives us God’s wisdom in his order to judicial process. In the world we normally have an inquiry that leads to judgment and ends with verdict for execution. In Hebrews we see the execution has already been set by the Word of God “living and effective”. Those who “follow me” receive the retribution of reward or suffering from the judgment of naked truth as our minds and hearts are revealed. At the end comes the inquiry “to render an account” no one escapes in the final opening of the seal revealing our life story. This revelation is the judgment set to be executed though our life journey “living and effective” in our days and the account will come beginning at the moment of death into our afterlife and the naked truth is revealed. It is said freedom is the right to choose what I want, when I want it, and how I want it. Sounds good until we recognize it comes like a two edge sword with the consequences of our choices. Wisdom recognizes freedom as the right to take responsibility for ourselves. Which way is cutting is in our hands.

In Mark’s gospel the young man calls Jesus “Good teacher”. His title for Jesus limits his view of Jesus as a prophet, a man of wisdom. Jesus wisdom is to pose a question and without waiting gives the answer. Indirectly the question is asking him ‘who do you say that I am?’ He cuts to his heart by responding “no one is good but God alone”. Hint, hint! The young man is to discern the divine nature of Jesus but apparently doesn’t get it since he continues to call him “teacher”. Jesus presents six commandments to follow to which the young man affirms “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus looks at him with love to penetrate his heart like a two edged sword. It is always easy to look at an infant with love. Not so easy to look at our enemies, our friends, or sometimes even our family with love. It makes us vulnerable. Do it and people will question you, “What’s wrong or what do you want?” We don’t know how to accept love as easily.

Jesus is calling him to love God as the first priority noted in the top three commandments not stated but implied by the action he calls him to follow. He gives him two directives to fulfill his call to perfection. The first is the perfection of letting go to the degree there is “no more to take away”, no more to hinder his journey of faith to God. William of Ocam says, “It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.” We accumulate our “stuff” all with special meaning, stuffing our closets, garages, and even get a storage shed unwilling to let go. Every now and then we shuffle through it, forget how most of it ended up with us and then reorganize our stuff again.

The second directive was “follow me”. The message for us is “who is Jesus in my life?” If he is my Lord then our first priority is to follow him in our daily lives fulfilling the top three commandments. We then order our lives according to our relationships with others. Material treasure is not to hinder our priorities to God and neighbor. Jesus sets the record straight at the end regarding “wealth”. He does not condemn wealth it is a part of creation. We build wealth out of God’s creation. Jesus raises our awareness with wisdom to the truth wealth can have when we allow it to possess us and keep us from a right relationship with God. The drive for wealth can come at the expense and injustice to the poor when we don’t pay a living wage. It may promote greed not generosity, false witness not truth, stealing not integrity, adultery not chastity, and even murder not life. We allow it to become an obstacle to a right relationship with God.

Wisdom is personified as a woman while the commandments come from a Father. The wisdom of God comes to us through a woman who gave birth to a son, Jesus and his truth is given in the proclamation of the Word made flesh. Mary’s wisdom was her fiat entering into the universal plan of salvation. Her riches and glory came in raising her son, loving her husband, and being obedient. In Mary the execution was set for her life but she had to consent and live the judgment of the Lord’s passion. Mary followed the plan receiving the judgment awaiting her reward for her account on earth and now in heaven as Queen of Heaven and Earth.

The book of Wisdom* written by sages of the time we would consider as our contemporary prophets and theologians. Sages recognized a great truth in the order of the universe. The God of all creation has established natural laws of the universe. In this New Age movement some identify with these natural laws and try to tap into them with meditation, aroma therapies, mineral therapies, yoga meditation, and other Zen like approaches seeking peace, harmony, and well-being. They focus on the universal principles of the cosmos without recognizing the source of creation, the prime mover, the God of the universe. The problem is they stop short of making this connection to the source of life itself. These sages of the past in observing the world recognized each component in this world has a place in the overall plan of God’s design.

Today we would make comparisons of cause and effect, food chain, evolution of nature, and each person in life makes a difference in the larger plan of God. It is not just about you, it is about your contribution to the greater good and for the faithful our contribution to salvation history. Sages also believed if we disregard our calling we will bring about our own hardships. The dynamic of life is in constant motion like riding the rapids in a canoe, sometimes calm and other times fast, rough and rushing. Proverbs says, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom” (Prov. 9:10) Fear of the Lord is the realization of the two edge sword created by the awesome creation of the natural law we are members of and of the consequences that come by rebelling away from our call to “follow” his plan for us.

We are headed into the holiday season secular and Christian. Some celebrate Halloween, or the Day of the Dead, All Souls Day and we get sugar overload. Then Thanksgiving comes with all kinds of carbs and dressings followed by Christmas and juicy fat tamales by the dozen, ending in New Year’s drinks, nachos, and guacamole. We indulge and rush to get more stuff we call our treasures in toys, shoes, electronic gadgets and there is always the next best phone or 4-D mega screen TV and more. We wake up and discover we just gained another 20 pounds of bondage in our “freedom”.

The knife cuts both ways as we can celebrate in fellowship with church festivals, Posadas, Holy Days of obligation, processions, adoration, rosaries, family reunions and yes some treats in moderation. Freedom is taking responsibility to the naked truth. Advent is coming and it is a good time to move in the direction of having no more to let go of. In Spanish we say, “el que mucho abarca poco aprieta” meaning “the more we try to squeeze into our life the less we gain”. Gain more with less and we will be on our way to perfection.

*The Paulist Biblical Commentary; “Wisdom Literature”; Paulist Press, New York/Mahwah, NJ, 2018. Pg. 423-425.

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25th Sunday Ordinary Time – God or mammon

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The Deacon

“All things are possible”– 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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The Deacon

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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The Deacon

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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The Deacon